Imaging mdt 2013

[LukeC]

I'm starting out with mdt and wds 2013 for our imaging solution and have got the system working nicely but it has just come to me that I have built my reference image on a piece of hardware. I would like the reference image to be used on different hardware. So would I be best starting a fresh I a VM.

 

My initial thoughts have been build the reference image in VMware esxi install everything required and the create a template from it for updating later. Then sysprep andCapture the image and inject the drivers for different hardware. Do I need to install VMware tools and uninstall before I do the capture or does it not matter? Thanks in advance.

[Jamo]

I'm starting out with mdt and wds 2013 for our imaging solution and have got the system working nicely but it has just come to me that I have built my reference image on a piece of hardware. I would like the reference image to be used on different hardware. So would I be best starting a fresh I a VM.

 

My initial thoughts have been build the reference image in VMware esxi install everything required and the create a template from it for updating later. Then sysprep andCapture the image and inject the drivers for different hardware. Do I need to install VMware tools and uninstall before I do the capture or does it not matter? Thanks in advance.

 

 

My preference with MDT has always been to create a bare reference image (ie just deploy and capture the OS with updates) and then apply everything else in the task sequence. This means that you can get away with just the one OS image for all hardware and software combinations without having to rebuild the base image too frequently.

 

I have always used VMs as the capture target just deploying the drivers to the OS rather than the VM tools complete. The VM is a much easier target to rebuild as well (saves space on your desk )

 

I also use driver filtering to make sure I get a consistent image to all desktops and laptops. See my website (RS Applications | Simple Software for Simple Things wmi | Search Results | RS Applications) for some info on driver filtering with MDT as I also created a couple of tools which were useful when doing this (WMI information tools and a couple of scripts to clean invalid WMI data)

[LukeC]

@Jamo So you don't install vm tools?

[Jamo]

Not in the reference image. I do in the final deployment though.

[sted]

when you sysprep (or mdt does it for you) it will strip out any drivers so unless youve done any strange tweaks you should be fine. personally i use a vm as then i can snapshot before sysprep then when done roll it back apply more updates and capture again when i need a new image so i dont have to install updates from base sp1 level again. i also add office to my base image but thats about it

[LukeC]

Thanks do you have any good guides for deploying applications after the base image as I have always just built a fat image!

[sted]

it depends on the software if you can script the install then mdt can work with that but most of my software is gpo deployed